Her debut's bathing-in-a-translucent-saree scene and a breastfeeding sequence were considered extraordinarily bold for 1985 and set off a national debate about censorship and 'obscenity' in Hindi film.
Raj Kapoor's Ram Teri Ganga Maili (1985) built much of its enormous publicity — and controversy — around Mandakini's character, Ganga. A sequence of her bathing under a waterfall in a translucent white saree, and a later scene of her breastfeeding her infant, were seen as far more explicit than mainstream Hindi cinema had attempted.
The film provoked heated argument about decency, the male gaze and censorship, with critics accusing Kapoor of using the newcomer's body to sell tickets. It was, all the same, the highest-grossing Indian film of the year and an all-time blockbuster — and it defined Mandakini's image for the rest of her career.
Sources
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